Legislative update. Finally, after a long and strenuous process, SB 1201 will become law due to an October 11 vote of 105-7 in favor by the Illinois House of Representatives, following a 53-1 vote of support by the Senate. This important legislation will create the new Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund with a $5 million annual appropriation from the General Revenue Fund, $3.5 million will come to CMAP. Thanks once again to the CMAP Board and all our partners who worked so hard to make this happen.

CMAP Meetings. October marks the second birthday of the CMAP Board. To celebrate, both coordinating committees, the board and the executive committee met on Wednesday. Highlights of the meetings included:

• Approval of the FY 2008 multi-year CMAQ Program, a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Amendment revising the I-355 from I-55 to I-80 project to a six-lane cross section from a four-lane cross section, and endorsing Metra's preferred alternative for their Union Pacific Northwest and West Lines.
• Regional Comprehensive Plan. A presentation was given on sustainability, the first topic to be addressed in the snapshot series on major planning topics. A number of policy issues were presented and discussed as they related to the development of the plan. The memo summarizing the concepts can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2p9et2.

The board also discussed defining and developing regional priorities prior to the approval of the Regional Comprehensive Plan to ensure that CMAP is timely and effective in responding to relevant issues. The board also directed staff to explore other ways to inform elected officials and interested parties of applications for federal and state grants through project notifications and to provide more information to them at their next meeting on prioritizing the allocation of the Unified Work Program (UWP) funds to ensure accountability for next year's program.

MPO Policy Committee. The Policy Committee also met this week and discussed and approved the transportation related items stated above on the board's agenda as well as the relevant legislation being considered in Springfield to fund transit and capital programs.

CIP and Lipinski forums. Yesterday in Rosemont, CMAP executive director Randy Blankenhorn was part of a panel discussing the economic development aspects of transportation and logistics as part of a conference hosted by Chicago Industrial Properties. It was a good chance to speak with business leaders -- developers, in particular -- about the importance of doing something about freight infrastructure in the context of improving our transportation system as a whole. On Monday, Randy will be a panelist with Rep. Julie Hamos, DuPage County Board chairman Bob Schillerstrom, and Lake County Board chairman Suzi Schmidt at the inaugural William O. Lipinski Symposium on Transportation Policy. See http://tinyurl.com/349pmz for program details and http://www.iti.northwestern.edu/ for a live webcast. The symposium is sponsored by Northwestern University, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Chaddick Institute technical workshop. DePaul's Chaddick Institute will host a workshop on Wednesday, October 24, from 9:00 a.m. to noon on "Working with Councils of Governments (COGs) to Improve Sub-Regional Problem Solving." Presenters include Northwest Municipal Conference executive director Mark Fowler, Hazel Crest village manager Bob Palmer, and CMAP's own Bob Dean. It's designed to explore "the evolving relationships between municipal governments and our region's councils of governments," including best practices for problem-solving, emerging financial strategies, and opportunities to strengthen cooperation. The location is DePaul University, 243 S. Wabash, Suite 9000. The fee is $45 per workshop, which includes continental breakfast; any three registrations for $115. Contact Chaddick program manager Joseph Kearney (jkearne2@depaul.edu), and see the agenda at http://tinyurl.com/3dazt8 (opens PDF).

CNT reports. The Center for Neighborhood Technology has issued four reports in partnership with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, describing the good "H+T" (housing and transportation) value of four south suburban communities. See http://www.cnt.org/ht/ for a brief description of the project and reports on Hazel Crest, Midlothian, Oak Forest, and Riverdale.

Municipal directory and CMAP resource directory. These new publications are available from CMAP's Janet Bright (312-386-8748 or jbright@cmap.illinois.gov), who compiled them for distribution at the IML conference and throughout the year. The municipal directory is one that CATS traditionally prepared, with contact information of key officials in each of the region's 283 municipal governments. The CMAP directory contains a lot of similarly useful information about our Board, the MPO Policy Committee, and other related contacts. We will also have a booth at next week's Illinois Municipal League conference (http://www.iml.org/dbs/annualconference/), so please stop by if you are there.